Michael Phelps: "I Didn't Want To Take Ritalin Anymore"

Michael Phelps, winner of eight gold medals at this past summer's Olympics, was on "Hannity & Colmes" the other night, talking about being Michael Phelps and his new book, No Limits: The Will to Succeed. In the midst of all of that, Alan Colmes asked him about growing up with ADHD/ADD:

COLMES: What's interesting, what's inspirational about this book, too, is how you talk about how you had ADD, and you felt as a kid the pool was a safe place to be.

PHELPS: Well, you know, it's — it's — I'm still a very, like, hyperactive child. But...

COLMES: You still have ADD?

HANNITY: See, I have LDD, Liberal Derangement Disorder. I don't like liberals.

COLMES: Yes, because when I'm around him, he gets deranged.

HANNITY: That's right. It's true.

COLMES: So — so the pool was a safe place, right?

PHELPS: I was able to, you know, really calm down and focus when I was in the pool. And, you know, when I was in middle school I, you know, found a way to, you know, turn that into anything that I did, you know, whether it was in the classroom, whether it was on the playing field. You know, I was able to do that. And that's when I sort of told my mom I didn't want to take Ritalin anymore; I wanted to do it all on my own. And...

COLMES: I liked the way that you could channel this and — into what you've done.

PHELPS: Yes. You know — and it's something I love, and it's something I was talented in and found at a very young age. And, you know, I was able to channel, you know, all my emotions and everything into the sport. And, you know, after doing that, I figured well, I can do this in anything I do."

I'm not sure what Phelps' situation is these days vis a vis stimulants, but it sounds like he's been off them for a long time. And, good for him and his approach to channeling his energies and distractability into sports, although he was obviously medicating and swimming at once for a time as well.

I've been saying on this site for a long time that sports were my salvation as a child and that I just shake my head at the de-emphasis of physical activity in kiddie culture these days. And people are OK with on the order of 5 percent of American kids being on stimulants while they aren't being pushed into sports every month of the year?

Makes you wonder who benefits from all the pushing.

I wrote about an interview with Phelps' mother earlier this year.